Stuck in a Boring job? A New Study Reveals Self-Employment Leads to Happiness

self employment

Many times you come to a point when you want to put an end to all that there is and start anew. This is something you would often find people with regular employment go through. The mundane routine of their job, the lack of incentives, the inflexible environment, and lack of options to choose are some of the biggest factors which make people quit their regular jobs.

Self-employment has become quite in vogue since the Internet exploded and the service sector reached newer heights than ever. The freelance industry has grown into a massively lucrative industry that has millions of participants selling their skills to gain. In fact, a recent study shows that self-employment has generated benefits which are diverse and really helpful.

Here are seven benefits which self-employment gives and which you should know about:

1. The Option To Choose

When you decide to become self-employed, you have the much-needed options to choose from. You can determine which area you should be employed in, who to work with, how much to charge, when to work and when not to, and others.

Unlike regular employment, self-employment allows you to decide your modus operandi and gives you space and air to work in. Many times people feel very constraint, and without growth in the limited environment regular employment generally provides, but this is not necessarily the case with self-employment.

2. Your Skills Matter

Self-employment lets you stay away from politics and nepotism which are quite common in regular employment. Here, in the freelance industry, your skills sell, not your sycophancy.

All you need to have is a good portfolio and clients will be willing to hire you as long as you market skills nicely. You may have your connections, but they might not work as well as you might expect them to in the freelance world.

Work-related satisfaction depends a lot on how much our skills are being appreciated. Self-employed individuals feel more satisfied with their work because their skills are duly considered.

3. You Can Name Your Price

Perhaps, the biggest giveaway of self-employment is that it lets you choose the price. Of course, you cannot whimsically name whatsoever price which comes in your mind. You have to consider some factors such as your professional experience, educational qualifications, skills, and the type of work you are taking up.

For example, a freelance graphic designer with a 10-year experience is in a better position to name a higher price than a freelance graphic designer who has just started out.

One of the biggest frustrations of people with regular jobs is that there are limits on the pay scale they can have. Even when they are improving or gaining experience, you can not be that flexible about the scale. In the freelance industry, you have an assured and much greater flexibility than there is in regular employment.

4. Decide Your Own Timetable

When you are self-employed, you can decide your schedule. You have your terms and conditions which the other side has to agree. In the freelance industry, the freelancer and the client are more or less on the same plane.

During negotiations, clients are supposed to take due consideration of factors such as how much time you can give every day, what your hourly rates are, whether you will be working on weekends, and what not. However, when we say this, it should not be construed to mean that you can decide whatever you want; you must also keep in mind the terms of the client.

Many regular employees work more than 8 hours a day—and some even work on weekends—causing them to cut off from their social life increasingly. There is no time to relax, watch TV, play with your kids, or hang out with friends. You are just stuck!—stuck in a loop which goes and goes until you decide to stop it.

5. Tax Deductions

A lot of countries, with the aim to promote business, allow a number of tax deductions. Self-employed people can claim deductions on business expenses. This is, primarily, useful when you are working from home.

Taxes are headaches to regular employees. Not that they are not so to self-employed professionals, there is room to claim business expenses which lets you save money in the latter case. However, remember tax deduction is different from tax evasion—do ‘NOT’ pay taxes.

6. Save A Lot Of Money

Self-employed people usually operate from home. In fact, a number of them go out and work in cafes which are increasingly becoming favorites. Because of this, they save a lot of expenditure on transportation.

Many regular employees end up traveling most of the time for their jobs, and this hits hard on their expenses. Many companies offer travel allowance which is deducted from total salary.

In the freelance world, you can avoid this. Even where your work requires you to travel, clients are usually amenable to compensating unless they have made it clear in the beginning that they will not.

7. Start Spending Money On Yourself

It is quite a common complain among regular employees that they do not get to spend their money on themselves. People work in gigantic corporations for 12 hours or so, get paid handsomely, but they are too tired to spend money on themselves. When they have weekends, they prefer to relax away and not do a thing.

Happiness cannot be bought but can be accentuated by money. People work hard every day so that they can have enough money to spend on themselves and on what they like. However, the reality is stark, and this causes people to become depressed and lead a monotonous life.

Time is changing, and people have started changing their ideas about employment. They have stated switching to self-employment. There are many benefits of self-employment which time and again have been shown in various studies—and we have listed down quite a few of them in the discussion above.

We think everyone deserves happiness, and quite contrary to common beliefs, the workplace environment creates a significant impact on it. We would like to hear from you what you think about self-employment and whether you believe that it is better than regular employment. Also, you can share this article and let other people contribute too.